Couldn't Care Less
by shockin'blueeyes
Summary: 'Kiss me' she said, and so he did. Set during the Battle Of Hogwarts.


**Written for Flitwicks' Prompt Of The Day, of Hogwarts Online, with the prompt 'kiss me'**

**KatieBell/OliverWood**

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Curses flew past her, and she rolled on the floor, avoiding them. She was full of dust and sooth, and her left arm felt numb. She scrambled to her feet, avoiding another one, and hid behind a tapestry. There, she stood clutching her chest, trying to regain her breath. This was madness, sheer madness. When her D.A. galleon had burnt in her pocket, she hadn't thought of what might be waiting for her at Hogwarts, she had just clutched her wand and disaparated from her flat in Diagon Alley.

Now she longed for her comfy, soft bed and a cup of hot cocoa. Another spell shook the walls of the castle, bringing her back to the present. Finally able to breath, she pushed aside the tapestry and almost collided with a Death Eater who had his back to her. Without wasting a second, she stunned him and kicked him as she ran on top of him, back to the battle. Body's lied on the floor, most of them bloody. She didn't bear to look at their faces, but running as she was, she tripped and fell on top of one. She lifted her head and came across of two vacant, absent eyes. With a sickening scream, she stood up again, recognizing the body as one Hufflepuff girl from her year. A sudden explosion sent her flying to a wall, and she heard her leg crack and her head spun out of control. That was when the most terrible and painful sound pierced her ears, and she knew she'll remember it till she died.

'NO –NO- FRED –NO!' oh please, let Fred not be dead, please, please, not Fred… with a flash she remembered Angelina, just a few days ago, telling her that she was going to ask Fred out, since he wasn't going to do it…

A sob caught in her throat, and she leaned on the wall, trying to stand up. Her eyes were blurry, but she could still make out the shape of three redheads in front of her. One of them wasn't moving.

'Fred…' unable to move, she saw Harry Potter –could that be Harry Potter?- and Percy move Fred's body and hid it in a niche. A wave of nausea washed over her, and she fell again to the floor, her eyes closing…

…

'Katie? Katie? Please wake up, oh please wake up…' a low voice shook her awake, and her eyelids fluttered, but she didn't open her eyes. She didn't need to, to recognize the voice of which she dreamed night after night since she was an innocent second ear, trying out for the Quidditch team. Oliver Wood, her Quidditch Captain, even now, since they both were on Puddlemere United.

'Katie?' another voice called her, and a nausea overtook her. Angelina… Fred… did she knew already? That the boy she fancied since third year was dead? Dead… A sob erupted from her body, and she fell the tears cascade down her cheeks.

'Oliver, she's awake!' someone clutched her to a chest, and she took in his smell, so full of Quidditch, even after the battle. Her eyes flew open, and a wave of relief washed over her. She clutched to the chest, and sobbed harder. Oliver was alive…

'Thank God…' she looked up, and the two most wonderful eyes met with hers, taking her breath again.

'Oliver…' in other circumstances, she would have felt really cheesy, but now it didn't matter.

'Angelina, she's okay, go find Fred.'

'No!' she shouted, and she sat up on the floor, away from Oliver's chest. Angelina stood infront of her.

'Why not?' the question had fear engraved in its every word. Tears filled her eyes.

'I'm so sorry, Angelina, I'm so sorry…' Angelina's hands flew to her mouth, and she fell to her knees, but two strong arms scooped her from behind. Lee Jordan hugged her, tears in his eyes, and led her away, onto the Great Dining Hall.

Katie looked again at Oliver, whose cheeks had also tears, as well as sooth and blood. Without thinking in what she was doing, she flung her arms around him, forgetting too late her leg was broken. She muffled her scream in Oliver's shoulder, and he took her, bridal style, carrying her to be treated. Her eyes closed again.

...

After her leg was mended, Katie found out what was going on. Voldemort had given them and hour, from which only ten minutes lasted. Then, the battle would start again. The only thought made her shake from head to toe. When she made room for Hannah Abbot, whose right arm was burned, she took a decision, a decision that would change her live. Little of it that was left. She stood up, walking away from the stand, and from the bodies lined up, her eyes scanning the crowd, but not looking at any dead faces. A mass of redheads stood all huddled up together, and she looked away quickly, not wanting to look at it. She couldn't. Though she tried to pass by them quickly, she caught sight of George, tears streaming down his cheeks, slumped down on the floor near Fred's head. The look of both their eyes was vacant, and for a second a wrenching pain consumed her, but she shook it away, her head set on her target. She roamed the halls, knowing full well that only a few minutes where left, asking to everyone that could hear her where was Oliver Wood. Finally, a painting of a woman with a baby in her arms pointed to outside. She flew down the marble staircase and outside of the Great Hall, where more bodies lay scattered on the floor.

She looked at her watch. Five minutes. She scanned the dark grounds, looking for a moving figure, because of that she was sure: Oliver Wood was not dead. At last she found him, helping Neville carry a body, and with another pang she recognized a Gryffindor girl that should now be in sixth year. Oliver's gaze dropped on her, and he muttered something to Neville. Neville nodded and took the girl, carrying her away into the Great Hall. Oliver stood there, looking at her, and fro one second she felt she couldn't do it. Three minutes. Of course she could do it. She ran to him and clutched to his coat lapels.

'Katie?' his voice was uncertain, but his arms found her waist.

'Oliver, we probably just have a few minutes left, and I didn't want to die without…' she faltered.

'Without what?' Oliver was looking now right at her eyes, and his eyes were sparkling. Two minutes. Gathering all the courage she had eft, she cupped his face with her hands.

'Kiss me' she said, and so he did. His face leaned down on hers, and their lips met, shaking her heart free of all the doubts, all the grieve, all the fear. She could worry about that later… or never. It didn't mind.

Her watch beeped, signalling their truce time was over. She ended the kiss, their forehead together, as a clear voice broke the silence. But she couldn't hear, she couldn't.

'I love you, Katie Bell' he said, and ignoring the beating of her own heart, that threatened to break free of her chest, she answered.

'I love you too, Oliver Wood' and if those were her last words, she couldn't care less.

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**Thank God that those weren't actually their last words.**

**Review!**


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